The Four Worst American Presidents

[billyerock1991]

The Four Worst American Presidents

by OjibwaFollow for History for Kossacks



Since the adoption of its constitution, 43 men have been President of the United States. In January 2013, a New York Times journalist and statistician put together a composite list of presidential rankings based on previous presidential rankings by scholars (primarily historians). According to this, the worst four are: (43) James Buchanan (Democrat) (42); Franklin Pierce (Democrat) (41) Warren G. Harding (Republican); and (40) William Henry Harrison (Whig).

According to this list, the four most recent presidents ranked as follows: Barrack Obama is ranked as 17; George W. Bush is ranked as 38; Bill Clinton is ranked as 18; and George H.W. Bush is ranked as 22.

A very short description of the worst presidents follows.

 

[Politico]

Well it may not be totally correct. But it is an earnest analysis not harboring an underlying agenda. I can respect that.

You see what an objective thread looks like folks?

 

[Two Thumbs]

I think a Pres that did human experiments on Americans and had citizens locked up illegally should be considered the worse.

That's some real evil stuff, right?

 

[rightwinger]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to label the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

 

[NoNukes]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

Where would you rank Ford?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Harding? LOL

4 Worst: Wilson, FDR, LBJ, Obama

 

[Geaux4it]

Obama has lowered the bar so far all others pale in comparison

-Geaux

 

[healthmyths]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

What did GWB do?
1) He inherited a recession that started under Clinton (3/2001 to 11/01)
2) The dot.com bust happened lost $5 trillion and 300,000 jobs lost was that his fault?
3) 9/11 (Remember that???) cost $1 trillion 18,000 businesses lost, 145,000 jobs lost..3,000 lives.. was that his fault?
4) Worst hurricane SEASONS in history destroyed $1 trillion,400,000 jobs lost. 1,836 lives.. again GWB's fault?
5) Economic terrorist attack 9/18/08 drained $1/2 trillion in 2 hours from $4 trillion money market.. almost caused world economic collapse.

AND yet in spite of the loss of nearly $60 billion a year in tax revenue from that the deficit was declining with last year less the $160 billion.
And when he took office there were 5 million less people employed then when he left office!
And the GDP grew 16% in his 8 years.

ALL that in spite of a MSM that said "our job is to bash Bush".. yet this same MSM calls Obama a "god"?
All that in spite of Senators calling our troops "terrorists". "Cold blood killers". "Nazis" "killing civilians"...

Historians when given that context and perspective of time will rate GWB as one of the Greatest President that in spite of
being the ONLY President to have FACED the above events all in one administration with a very hostile MSM and traitors for senators!

 

[NoNukes]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

What did GWB do?
1) He inherited a recession that started under Clinton (3/2001 to 11/01)
2) The dot.com bust happened lost $5 trillion and 300,000 jobs lost was that his fault?
3) 9/11 (Remember that???) cost $1 trillion 18,000 businesses lost, 145,000 jobs lost..3,000 lives.. was that his fault?
4) Worst hurricane SEASONS in history destroyed $1 trillion,400,000 jobs lost. 1,836 lives.. again GWB's fault?
5) Economic terrorist attack 9/18/08 drained $1/2 trillion in 2 hours from $4 trillion money market.. almost caused world economic collapse.

AND yet in spite of the loss of nearly $60 billion a year in tax revenue from that the deficit was declining with last year less the $160 billion.
And when he took office there were 5 million less people employed then when he left office!
And the GDP grew 16% in his 8 years.

ALL that in spite of a MSM that said "our job is to bash Bush".. yet this same MSM calls Obama a "god"?
All that in spite of Senators calling our troops "terrorists". "Cold blood killers". "Nazis" "killing civilians"...

Historians when given that context and perspective of time will rate GWB as one of the Greatest President that in spite of
being the ONLY President to have FACED the above events all in one administration with a very hostile MSM and traitors for senators!

Can you believe that someone is still defending Bush? Oh, hold on it is healthmyths. Now it makes sense.

 

[editec]

I would much more interested in knowing the criteria they use to decide which PsOTUS were good and which were bad.

But as they surveyed historians they probably do not know why the historians voted as they did.

 

[rightwinger]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

Where would you rank Ford?

I was sorry for Ford. Good man who stepped in at a time when the office of President was almost powerless. I don't blame him for pardoning Nixon, it had to be done. He did not accomplish much but he did no harm either.

I'd put him around 25

 

[iamwhatiseem]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

There is validity in these two (in our lifetimes)
In my lifetime (Johnson - )...I would agree with those choices - mostly. Clinton comes in close to Bush.

For Bush, it was his complete disastrous handling of the Iraq War, ignoring exponentially growing immigration issues, and ignoring/AWOL on economic corruption.
For Carter - no explanation necessary.
For Clinton - Signing NAFTA, for starting the policies that began the mortgage meltdown. For allowing Larry Summers to do basically anything he wanted to broker the housing deal, for keeping Larry Summers in the cabinet (as has Obama) - Summers is arguably the most corrupt/cronyism single person in modern history.

 

[rightwinger]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

What did GWB do?
1) He inherited a recession that started under Clinton (3/2001 to 11/01)
2) The dot.com bust happened lost $5 trillion and 300,000 jobs lost was that his fault?
3) 9/11 (Remember that???) cost $1 trillion 18,000 businesses lost, 145,000 jobs lost..3,000 lives.. was that his fault?
4) Worst hurricane SEASONS in history destroyed $1 trillion,400,000 jobs lost. 1,836 lives.. again GWB's fault?
5) Economic terrorist attack 9/18/08 drained $1/2 trillion in 2 hours from $4 trillion money market.. almost caused world economic collapse.

AND yet in spite of the loss of nearly $60 billion a year in tax revenue from that the deficit was declining with last year less the $160 billion.
And when he took office there were 5 million less people employed then when he left office!
And the GDP grew 16% in his 8 years.

ALL that in spite of a MSM that said "our job is to bash Bush".. yet this same MSM calls Obama a "god"?
All that in spite of Senators calling our troops "terrorists". "Cold blood killers". "Nazis" "killing civilians"...

Historians when given that context and perspective of time will rate GWB as one of the Greatest President that in spite of
being the ONLY President to have FACED the above events all in one administration with a very hostile MSM and traitors for senators!

George W Bush was an interesting case. He was given events and crisis during his Presidency that he could have stamped himself as one of our greatest Presidents. After 9-11 he rallied the country and the world around him.....he was destined for greatness
Instead, he squandered that support to push through a questionable agenda. His attempts at nation building were disasters. He abandoned the war on terror to invade Iraq. He trumped up WMD histeria. He engaged in torture and created Gitmo.
Then there was the worst economic collapse in 70 years where Bush went from denial to a hands off approach as he waited for a self correction. It was not until the last three months that he actually did something about the economy

 

[healthmyths]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

What did GWB do?
1) He inherited a recession that started under Clinton (3/2001 to 11/01)
2) The dot.com bust happened lost $5 trillion and 300,000 jobs lost was that his fault?
3) 9/11 (Remember that???) cost $1 trillion 18,000 businesses lost, 145,000 jobs lost..3,000 lives.. was that his fault?
4) Worst hurricane SEASONS in history destroyed $1 trillion,400,000 jobs lost. 1,836 lives.. again GWB's fault?
5) Economic terrorist attack 9/18/08 drained $1/2 trillion in 2 hours from $4 trillion money market.. almost caused world economic collapse.

AND yet in spite of the loss of nearly $60 billion a year in tax revenue from that the deficit was declining with last year less the $160 billion.
And when he took office there were 5 million less people employed then when he left office!
And the GDP grew 16% in his 8 years.

ALL that in spite of a MSM that said "our job is to bash Bush".. yet this same MSM calls Obama a "god"?
All that in spite of Senators calling our troops "terrorists". "Cold blood killers". "Nazis" "killing civilians"...

Historians when given that context and perspective of time will rate GWB as one of the Greatest President that in spite of
being the ONLY President to have FACED the above events all in one administration with a very hostile MSM and traitors for senators!

Can you believe that someone is still defending Bush? Oh, hold on it is healthmyths. Now it makes sense.

SO NONE of what I wrote happened?
Were you born after 2008? Are you in grade school?

Or were you in a skilled nursing facility where your Depends were changed daily?

Are you f..king telling me NONE of those events happened ? And are you telling me that they were ALL the fault of GWB decisions???

 

[rightwinger]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

There is validity in these two (in our lifetimes)
In my lifetime (Johnson - )...I would agree with those choices - mostly. Clinton comes in close to Bush.

For Bush, it was his complete disastrous handling of the Iraq War, ignoring exponentially growing immigration issues, and ignoring/AWOL on economic corruption.
For Carter - no explanation necessary.
For Clinton - Signing NAFTA, for starting the policies that began the mortgage meltdown. For allowing Larry Summers to do basically anything he wanted to broker the housing deal, for keeping Larry Summers in the cabinet (as has Obama) - Summers is arguably the most corrupt/cronyism single person in modern history.

I was born while Ike was President but don't remember much. From JFK onward I would rank the worst as:

Bush: Wrong man for the time, had horrible advisors
Carter: Weak and idealistic
Johnson: Great on Civil Rights and Social Programs...then came Viet Nam
Nixon: Smart man politically but a horrible person, borderline psychotic

 

[iamwhatiseem]

What did GWB do?
1) He inherited a recession that started under Clinton (3/2001 to 11/01)
2) The dot.com bust happened lost $5 trillion and 300,000 jobs lost was that his fault?
3) 9/11 (Remember that???) cost $1 trillion 18,000 businesses lost, 145,000 jobs lost..3,000 lives.. was that his fault?
4) Worst hurricane SEASONS in history destroyed $1 trillion,400,000 jobs lost. 1,836 lives.. again GWB's fault?
5) Economic terrorist attack 9/18/08 drained $1/2 trillion in 2 hours from $4 trillion money market.. almost caused world economic collapse.

AND yet in spite of the loss of nearly $60 billion a year in tax revenue from that the deficit was declining with last year less the $160 billion.
And when he took office there were 5 million less people employed then when he left office!
And the GDP grew 16% in his 8 years.

ALL that in spite of a MSM that said "our job is to bash Bush".. yet this same MSM calls Obama a "god"?
All that in spite of Senators calling our troops "terrorists". "Cold blood killers". "Nazis" "killing civilians"...

Historians when given that context and perspective of time will rate GWB as one of the Greatest President that in spite of
being the ONLY President to have FACED the above events all in one administration with a very hostile MSM and traitors for senators!

Can you believe that someone is still defending Bush? Oh, hold on it is healthmyths. Now it makes sense.

SO NONE of what I wrote happened?
Were you born after 2008? Are you in grade school?

Or were you in a skilled nursing facility where your Depends were changed daily?

Are you f..king telling me NONE of those events happened ? And are you telling me that they were ALL the fault of GWB decisions???

It goes both ways....clearly - C-L-E-A-R-L-Y - the left has used Booosh as a catch-all for everything that has went wrong for the past 14 years. To the extent of lunacy.
Having said that, what rightwinger is saying here is mostly true. Bush did totally f*ck up in the middle east - there is no argument there. He ignored immigration issues, and was simply AWOL on the growing corruption in the FED/SEC/Wall Street (which Clinton both participated in and helped form)
But - Bush is nowhere near as bad or responsible for a third of what the left have piled up.

 

[midcan5]

I consider Reagan the worst president in my lifetime not for the man but for the ideas that came out of his presidency. In a sense it is unfair as he raised taxes often, noted that the wealthy abuse our system of government and helped social security remain solvent into the future. Maybe it is the myth that is the problem, the creation of an imaginary Reagan who thought government the problem and military might the solution. On the other hand Reagan's very real destruction of the policies and tools that protected and raised up the middle class brought us again to the brink of depression, and still today have helped create an inequality, only evident in third world nations, right here in America.

"Since 1982, the Siena Research Institute has polled presidential scholars on whom they view to be best and worst presidents in American history, based on a variety of issues from “integrity” to economic stewardship. This year’s poll of 238 scholars found that President Franklin Roosevelt was once again ranked on top, joined by Presidents Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt to complete the top five. However, President George W. Bush did not fare well since the last poll was conducted in 2002. He dropped 16 places to 39th, making him the worst president since Warren Harding died in office in 1923, and one of the bottom five of all time, according to the experts:

"Today, just one year after leaving office, the former president has found himself in the bottom five at 39th rated especially poorly in handling the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence. Rounding out the bottom five are four presidents that have held that dubious distinction each time the survey has been conducted: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce." The Raw Story | America's #1 completely independent news and politics source


"....there's a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan's presidency. There's also a grudging reassessment that the "failed"- presidents of the 1970s--Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter--may deserve more credit for trying to grapple with the problems that now beset the country." OpEdNews - Article: Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

William Henry Harrison only lived for 30 days after being inaugurated. Hard to lable the guy the worst

In my lifetime, George W Bush was the worst with Carter next

There is validity in these two (in our lifetimes)
In my lifetime (Johnson - )...I would agree with those choices - mostly. Clinton comes in close to Bush.

For Bush, it was his complete disastrous handling of the Iraq War, ignoring exponentially growing immigration issues, and ignoring/AWOL on economic corruption.
For Carter - no explanation necessary.
For Clinton - Signing NAFTA, for starting the policies that began the mortgage meltdown. For allowing Larry Summers to do basically anything he wanted to broker the housing deal, for keeping Larry Summers in the cabinet (as has Obama) - Summers is arguably the most corrupt/cronyism single person in modern history.

I was born while Ike was President but don't remember much. From JFK onward I would rank the worst as:

Bush: Wrong man for the time, had horrible advisors
Carter: Weak and idealistic
Johnson: Great on Civil Rights and Social Programs...then came Viet Nam
Nixon: Smart man politically but a horrible person, borderline psychotic

I am surprised you don't at least give Clinton a 'dishonorable' mention.
He was corrupt. The housing deal, and the dismantling of his principles to get it passed is what contributed greatly to 2008. There is plenty of blame to go around for the mortgage collapse, but IMO it is undeniable that Clinton was an active participator to get what he wanted.

 

[Nova78]

The Four Worst American Presidents

1- Obama
2- Obama
3- Obama
4- Obama

 

[rightwinger]

I consider Reagan the worst president in my lifetime not for the man but for the ideas that came out of his presidency. In a sense it is unfair as he raised taxes often, noted that the wealthy abuse our system of government and helped social security remain solvent into the future. Maybe it is the myth that is the problem, the creation of an imaginary Reagan who thought government the problem and military might the solution. On the other hand Reagan's very real destruction of the policies and tools that protected and raised up the middle class brought us again to the brink of depression, and still today have helped create an inequality, only evident in third world nations, right here in America.

"Since 1982, the Siena Research Institute has polled presidential scholars on whom they view to be best and worst presidents in American history, based on a variety of issues from “integrity” to economic stewardship. This year’s poll of 238 scholars found that President Franklin Roosevelt was once again ranked on top, joined by Presidents Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt to complete the top five. However, President George W. Bush did not fare well since the last poll was conducted in 2002. He dropped 16 places to 39th, making him the worst president since Warren Harding died in office in 1923, and one of the bottom five of all time, according to the experts:

"Today, just one year after leaving office, the former president has found himself in the bottom five at 39th rated especially poorly in handling the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence. Rounding out the bottom five are four presidents that have held that dubious distinction each time the survey has been conducted: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce." The Raw Story | America's #1 completely independent news and politics source


"....there's a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan's presidency. There's also a grudging reassessment that the "failed"- presidents of the 1970s--Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter--may deserve more credit for trying to grapple with the problems that now beset the country." OpEdNews - Article: Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever?

I voted for Reagan twice. He came in at a time when we were down on ourselves (Viet Nam, Iran booming inflation)and created hope. He took decisive actions and changed our path. At the time, I thought he was one of our better Presidents
However, as time has passed we have seen the effects of his policies. Mostly in the decline of the once great middle class. He shifted the US towards a supply side economy that rewards the wealthy at all costs. it has been a disaster

I see Reagan shifting from a top ten president into the low 20s